Chapter 2

During the same month I became acquainted with a system of belief expressedly antagonistic to Christianity. This was Theism as promoted by the now late Rev. Charles Voysey, B.A., the minister and founder of the Theistic Church, and former Vicar of Healaugh, whose indictment before Privy Council shook the Anglican Church to its foundations. A reply to the Times advertisement of the Theistic Church—offering a free batch of literature to truthseekers, etc.—led to the receipt of several printed sermons by Mr. Voysey, and his “Lecture on the Theistic Church, its Foundation and the Bible." Their author invited criticism. So I read the "Lectures," and addressed to him a closely-written, forty-eight paged foolscap criticism of them from the Christian viewpoint. In concluding, I expressed a wish for an interview. Mr. Voysey replied promptly, thanking me for my “long and courteous criticism" of his writings, but fearing that “it would be of little use to meet and argue with a man who sees no contradictions in the narratives of Iesus, or in the genealogies, etc." Finally, he insisted that this was all froth in comparison with the moral basis of his contention against the Christian scheme of salvation.

An interview was arranged, however, for the afternoon of Saturday, December 20th, of this eventful year. Others followed. Mr. Voysey’s earnestness was impressive, and offered serious food for reflection. One could not help thinking of the atheist who had not even the Theist's hope of immortality, and yet served humanity with a steadfastness of purpose and loyalty to principle the Christian might well envy. Religion could only be deemed virtue—the passion for good that elevated mankind. Consequently, the disinterested service of man by the atheist was applauded as being, indeed, religion. There seemed no better way of becoming at one with God. Such conduct could only arise out of a life that was in absolute accord with the supreme harmony of the universe. Unconsciously, I had begun to embrace the teachings of Zeno the Stoic.